I always thought Bartman was unjustly blamed. In fact I think as many as six people were reaching for the ball.

That's a good point but I think that people overlook the fact that Prior was still up 1-2 in the count with one out and up two runs. People also overlook the bobbled double play ball that would have ended the inning. Had Alou not freaked out the way he did, I wonder if people would have blamed Bartman. I still don't think I have ever seen a player freak out like that over a foul ball.

I gotta say that the Chicago and National media coverage of that series caused my Cub hatred to reach its zenith. All the footage of the fans on the streets outside Wrigley acting like, well; acting like we all would have if the same thing had been going on at ballpark on 35th Street. I was truly seething for almost a week straight. Total Rage Mode. And then pfftt. Gone.

Since the Sox won the WS in 2005, my contempt for the Cubs and the total Cub Experience has mellowed. Maybe I'm just getting charitable in my old[er] age.

That's 2 of us, brother. Lost Game 5 with the Big Z, then 6 and 7. It took 8 years for my Cubbie loving buddy to admit to me that he was standing in the crowd on Waveland waiting for the glorious moment, walked a few blocks home after the "8" went up and saw the end of the game on TV.

Gotta find that inning again on YouTube.

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Truth is that opinion most loudly proclaimed and most vigorously defended. -- Churchill (not really but he's a good quotation magnet)

That's 2 of us, brother. Lost Game 5 with the Big Z, then 6 and 7. It took 8 years for my Cubbie loving buddy to admit to me that he was standing in the crowd on Waveland waiting for the glorious moment, walked a few blocks home after the "8" went up and saw the end of the game on TV.

Of course the fan shouldn't be blamed for blowing the lead. The Cubs did that on their own. But if you're a good fan into the game as the Cubs are counting the outs on one hand to get to the World Series for the first time in almost half a century, there no way you don't back off to give your team a chance to play the ball. If it's the radio you're listening to on those ear buds, the announcer has to be talking about Alou having a shot at the ball. If it's not the game in your ears, you're an oblivious joke in the stands.

I've been in the front row in foul territory quite a bit, and I always defer to the defender. It's rare that people I've been sitting near don't. If the stakes were as high as they were in the Steve Bartman game, I don't see how other fans could have let that happen. I've seen fans harassed out of their seats for less than Steve Bartmen did.

I didn't see the play live. As it happened, I heard it on the radio in Alaska, and the announcers thought Alou had a play on the ball. After the inning ended, I went in to work to cover a planning commission meeting, and the commissioners were joking about the fan that cost the Cubs a trip to the World Series.

This wasn't just something that would have happened to anyone in a similar situation. It was embarrassingly bad form for a baseball fan, magnified under the circumstances. Of course, the Cubs collectively lost it after that. It's hard to imagine the way the play came down was just a coincidence. It was as if the team gave up, pitching-wise. Defense-wise. It was as if there was suddenly an enormity of pressure on the Cubs, and it they fell apart under it.

I can't imagine things would have gone the same way the foul ball had drifted six rows into the seats. I watched the replay of the inning and the Cubs are a different team after the play than they were before it. And after botching the Miguel Cabrera double play grounder, the Cubs became tighter still.

Steve Bartman wasn't to blame. But apparently the Cubs' psyche was so fragile, they were playing so tight, that one fan looking like he could have cost the team one out when things seemed firmly under control was all it took to unravel the season. I'm just happy that a White Sox fan isn't the object lesson Steve Bartmen has become around the country. But it wasn't, and a couple of hours after the game, there was an incredible aurora display over Juneau, as if in celebration.

No doubt the Cubs' NLCS collapse cost the Yankees a World Series title.

The 30 for 30 "Catching Hell" was very interesting when I caught it a year or two ago. Now that 10 years has past, I have a lot of respect for Bartman for staying private and not trying to capitalize publically and monetarily from the whole thing.

I read Paul Sullivan's story and thought it was pretty good. He went over how people tried to profit off of Bartman. But after I thought about it, I thought he should've concentrated some on the horrible reaction of Cub fans. They were way over the top in many ways and I think much worse than the people who wanted to make some money.

Re Dusty Baker: He sat on his hands when he should have least come out and calmed his team down. 5 outs. That's all they needed. How many times does a hitter get new life when a foul ball isn't caught? If a team goes nuts every time that happens, it would never get through a season.

Bottom line: The Cubs and their fans choked big time. And they have only themselves to blame.

The 30 for 30 "Catching Hell" was very interesting when I caught it a year or two ago. Now that 10 years has past, I have a lot of respect for Bartman for staying private and not trying to capitalize publically and monetarily from the whole thing.

Why do you have respect for that? He had a chance to set his family up for life monetarily...hell yeah I would have capitalized on that

Why do you have respect for that? He had a chance to set his family up for life monetarily...hell yeah I would have capitalized on that

The guy had to be escorted out of Wrigley by security and was getting death threats almost immediately, perhaps he feels it's better for him and his family to stay out of the public eye. Money doesn't buy everything.

The TV show on Comcast should be called "Winners never lose and Losers never win". The Cubs had a 3-1 lead in the series and still lost the series. There fan base have always been crybabies who have always been good at the blame game.